Anvar Salomets, chairman of the board of Rail Baltic Estonia, said: "The total length of Estonia's primary route is 213 kilometers, while signing this construction contract is significant as it means that about half of Estonia's main route is now ready for construction."

The contract for the nearly 16-kilometer Selja-Tootsi section of the Rail Baltica route was inked Friday.

Construction of the main route is already underway on approximately 70 kilometers of the route, to the north of Pärnu County, chiefly in Harju and Rapla counties.

AS Tariston, of the Nordecon group, is responsible for the Pärnu County section and is also working on the route in Rapla County.

Tariston board member Argo Kotsar said: "Based on our previous experience, I can confidently say that a tangible moment, where we see the first excavators on site, will likely be by late summer or early autumn."

"In three years, this section will be completed so that railway infrastructure can then be built on top of it," Kotsar went on.

The construction involves significant earthworks and concrete work.

Tariston itself will be providing some of the aggregate to be used in underpinning the line.

"Since Tariston is also involved in mineral extraction — we have more than 20 quarries across Estonia — some of the materials will certainly come from our own quarries, while the rest will come from other sources," Kotsar added.

However, the sourcing of materials has raised concerns at the local government level.

Madis Koit (Reform), mayor of Põhja-Pärnumaa Rural Municipality, said he is pleased that local Rail Baltica stops will be built in the villages of Kaisma and Tootsi, but added he hoped that the materials needed will come from existing quarries.

Koit said: "We already have a bad experience in Kaisma, where a quarry was opened against our wishes by a government decision specifically for Rail Baltic construction. So, I hope that no new quarries will have to be opened."

A contract for the 15-kilometer Kärpla-Selja section, in Rapla County, is to be signed next week.

Contracts for the Tootsi-Pärnu and Pärnu-Ikla sections, all in Pärnu County and bringing the line up to the Latvian border, are expected in March.

The Selja-Tootsi section's construction will cost €62 million, plus VAT.

Originally slated for completion next year, the European Commission has said Rail Baltica needs to be finished by 2030.

The north-south route will have a dual use in that it can not only ferry passengers to continental Europe by direct rail – the line will stretch to the Lithuania-Poland border – but could also be used to transport military plant, as well as potentially commercial cargo coming south from Finland, with the exploitation of the far north.

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